headerads

By clicking submit, you agree to the Disclaimer and consent to receive emails from us. ?php>

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) 7-inch iPad Was Steve’s Target

What
would the reception have been if the 10-inch iPad had been smaller? Would it
have been as popular?

Well,
that is still in the realms of speculation but the fact remains that the late
Steve Jobs was receptive to his company Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) making a
smaller tablet, according to evidence that has emerged at the on-going patents
trial between Apple and Korean handset maker Samsung.

Eddie
Cue, a senior executive with Apple had, in a mail written in 2011 to then Chief
operating Officer Tim Cook urging him to build a 7-inch tablet. This was part
of evidence presented by Samsung at the trial.

Cue
also told other executives such as Scott Forstall and marketing head Phil
Schiller that there was market for a smaller iPad than what was eventually
released.

Cue
wrote in the email: "There will be a 7-inch market and we should do one. I
expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very
receptive the last time," the executive wrote in the email. "I found
email, books, Facebook, and video very compelling on a 7-inch. Web browsing is
definitely the weakest point, but still usable."

Cue
also said that he had written to Jobs several times about the idea of building
a smaller iPad and the founder had been receptive to it.

Apple
has accused Samsung of copying the designs of its iPhone and iPad and has
sought billions of dollars in payouts and a ban on Samsung's Galaxy range of
phones, which are at the centre of the dispute.

Samsung,
in its turn, has countersued Apple saying it has infringed on its wireless
technologies.

However
Jobs has publicly been not in favour of smaller tablets and in 2010 famously
told analysts in a conference call that "7-inch tablets should come with
sandpaper, so users could file their fingers down to a quarter of their
size."